Background
The rankings determine the seedings for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour, organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and who gets an invite to prestigious invitational events. Tournaments open to the membership are often played in two stages—a qualification stage and the "venue stage"—usually at different locations. Players usually come into events in different rounds based on their ranking, and the top players in the sport are usually seeded through to the venue stage and do not have to play a qualification match. In particular, the top 16 ranked players automatically qualify for the final stages of the World Championship and the Masters, so as well as interest in who will be number one, there is typically a lot of interest in which players are likely to maintain or acquire "top 16 status". Players are awarded ranking points according to the round they reach in ranking tournaments—specially designated tournaments that carry ranking status. The tariffs usually reflect the importance and prestige of a tournament, and every professional member of the WPBSA is assigned a ranking, whether they are active on the circuit or not.
Read more about this topic: Snooker World Rankings
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